I finished the game last night (saw credits roll) after about 4 hours. The story is really sticking with me, more so than I thought it would. I had an epiphany while trying to fall asleep, to try something else in the game; haven’t had a chance yet to see what happens though.

Finished one route which is probably the main route you get first time if you aren't trying to go to crazy with choices. Took 2 hours and was definitely worth playing for that.

SPOILERS SPOILERS

Spoiler:

Sayuri reveals she likes you but really struggles with depression. You confess to her and then she hangs herself. Some of the stuff about depression and relationships felt really honest and real. I appreciated the perspective. I don't know for sure if I'll go and play through all the routes. I may just read summaries because I'm satisfied with where I ended up.

...What the hell? I let my guard down and that ending just completely obliterated me.

Was on the Yuri path, but made a quick decision after a bit more of the plot was revealed and reached the Sayori ending.

Sayori ending spoilers

Spoiler:

Yeah, ok. Finding out about her depression really hit me hard. Then finding her dead in her room after that sweet moment beforehand was brutal. I'm really intrigued with the .txt file the game points you towards, and how it's corrupting my second playthrough.

Yuri speculation

Spoiler:

She's self-harming, right? The poems seem to suggest that. The interest in knives, and seeing her quickly roll down her sleeve all points towards it.

General mild spoiler about the theme of the game, probably safe but I thought I'd be considerate. Definitely safe to click if you're aware of the unseen aspect of the game:

Spoiler:

I'm keen to keep reading more. The themes are a little hard for me to swallow, especially considering my partner's bipolar and self-harm history, but it's definitely a special VN. So far it doesn't seem to forced, but I'm gonna need to take a breather.

One wheel to rule them all
One wheel to ride them
One wheel to balance them all
And on the street pass by them
- Grenn

I thought the game's twist might have been that it was a cutesy game that actually dealt with mental health seriously. But with the Pony Island'ing at the beginning of Yuri's story, it seemed that instead it was going to be glitch-horror about Monika killing the other characters. And sure enough, I'm now stuck in a room with Monika JUST MONIKA

Quite a few laugh-out-loud moments in this game. I'll finish (?) it tomorrow.

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist

A great mix of the unsettling tension of The Static Speaks My Name with Pony Island-style fourth-wall-breaking. It's a game with some disturbing content, but the game is more about the nature of video games than the actual content of the story. Which is to say, it made me laugh too often for me to consider it psychological horror—some of them were pretty macabre laughs (e.g. realizing, when Natsuki showed up, that I spent all weekend next to Yuri's body, whether catatonic or by Monika's manipulation), but more often I was applauding the dev's cleverness.

I'm trying to get all the routes so I can click on everyone's spoiler stuff! Agh! I wanna know what you're saying!

Quick spoiler-free question to those who have played the whole thing. Is it actually a choose-your-path game, or is it railroaded? I'm on the second playthrough and I'm starting to think my decisions might not have actually mattered much. I don't mind at all because this is getting absurdly terrifying, but it's making me curious.

This is going to be in my top 5 this year, for sure.

One wheel to rule them all
One wheel to ride them
One wheel to balance them all
And on the street pass by them
- Grenn

I agree with your assessment, Gravey. As I mentioned on my "finished any games" post, I spent a good amount of time swearing at this game and laughing about it. Very enjoyable stuff.

Glad to see you're making progress on this A_Unicycle! I can't wait until you're able to click on those tantalizing spoiler buttons above! To answer your question, it's mostly railroaded, except at the very very beginning, I believe.

I'm trying to get all the routes so I can click on everyone's spoiler stuff! Agh! I wanna know what you're saying!

Quick spoiler-free question to those who have played the whole thing. Is it actually a choose-your-path game, or is it railroaded? I'm on the second playthrough and I'm starting to think my decisions might not have actually mattered much. I don't mind at all because this is getting absurdly terrifying, but it's making me curious.

This is going to be in my top 5 this year, for sure.

I think there are some paths you can go on, but the main one to get the credits is where you...

Spoiler:

get into a loop with Monika where the only way out is to delete her character file in your Steam folder.
After you do that and start the game back up it gets weird and you get the credits.

Sayuri reveals she likes you but really struggles with depression. You confess to her and then she hangs herself. Some of the stuff about depression and relationships felt really honest and real. I appreciated the perspective. I don't know for sure if I'll go and play through all the routes. I may just read summaries because I'm satisfied with where I ended up.

I loved this. I loved this so much. Her depiction of depression felt so genuine, and hit me so hard. That transition from silly schoolgirl hit me like a tonne of bricks. Suddenly her always being late made sense, and I had to pick her over the other girl. Similarly, I didn't have the desire to find all routes after my first full playthrough. I'm happy enough to read a little bit about them/watch it on youtube.

@Gravey

Spoiler:

made me laugh too often for me to consider it psychological horror

Most unsettling game that ever made me laugh! I get what you're saying. I was grinning like an idiot at how clever the writing was. I especially loved the scene where Yuri is dead for the entire weekend, and you're just sitting there watching her the entire time. "Oh, that must have been boring".

One wheel to rule them all
One wheel to ride them
One wheel to balance them all
And on the street pass by them
- Grenn

Second best next to Steins;Gate for me. As much as I loved this, it's pretty damn hard to top that one. Seriously, play it.

Anyway, I managed to get a few friends interested in Doki Doki. One didn't "get" it, and I can't convince him to keep playing. Another is just a few moments before the first reveal, but still thinks I'm tricking him.

The last left about 10 messages on my phone, with growing concern. Slowly seeing her realize what was happening was hilarious. The final message was "I NEED TO TRAUMATIZE MY WIFE WITH THIS"

Mission accomplished, I guess!

One wheel to rule them all
One wheel to ride them
One wheel to balance them all
And on the street pass by them
- Grenn

Hmmm... I just finished the game with the first ending Tuffalo mentioned, so I just got an "end" title card with no credits. However, the game seems to have glitched, my save files have disappeared, and weird characters are appearing on screen. Is this normal?

In any case, I'm really enjoying the game. I'm curious to see what happens next...

Hmmm... I just finished the game with the first ending Tuffalo mentioned, so I just got an "end" title card with no credits. However, the game seems to have glitched, my save files have disappeared, and weird characters are appearing on screen. Is this normal?

In any case, I'm really enjoying the game. I'm curious to see what happens next...

Yep! That's normal. If you get stuck let us know. Very, very light spoiler that might help you move along if you're interested.

Spoiler:

Quitting and restarting the game can do things and doing things outside of the game can affect stuff.

The part where I actually had to delete a file in my steam folder... that was the first time I ever had to do that in a game.
Also does this have an actual "good" ending?
I think I followed Sayuri path first, followed by Yuri.
The only way the game could be even more trippier is if it deleted itself of the hard-drive.

After hearing someone mention this I decided to blast through it last night and I’m glad I did, because the whole thing was mind numbingly vanilla and boring right up to the first ending. Once it I got there I was instantly intrigued and stayed up until 2 AM just to finish it all.

Spoiler:

That Sayuri scene caught me totally off guard, and I think I’m a little traumatized by it. I can’t even think about it without getting creeped out and I was scared all night I’d have nightmares. After that point I had my guard up so it was fine but man they really revealed their hand in such a perfectly impactful way — maybe a little too perfect.

I'm not sure what counts as a visual novel (does One Night Stand count?) but this was my first anime styled one and I enjoyed it immensely. The first couple hours were a little tough to get through, but there were glimpses of writing very early on that piqued my interest. Also the near universal praise for it reassured me that there was something worthwhile here. I loved how creepy and meta it got.